Research Paper on:
DSM

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
the patient to cure the illness, or, in many cases, to abate the symptoms. More often than not, the physician is able to offer a valid diagnosis. It is not  as clear-cut with mental illnesses but the mental health professionals do have a tool that is intended to help - the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders. The  Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders is exactly that - a tool. It is a reference that classifies mental illnesses and offers the list of symptoms and the name  of mental illness or disorder. The medical and psychiatric community began trying to classify mental illness in the mid-1800s. In the early 1900s, the New York Academy of Medicine and  the American Psychiatric Association collaborated to develop nomenclature that would be accepted nationally. This resulted in the first reference called the American Medical Associations Standard Classified Nomenclature of Disease (Zimmer,  1999). The original classification system, then, began as a medical model but it has evolved since then (Riesenberg, nd). The Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (DSM) does not  attempt to offer causes nor does it dictate treatment; it is a reference that provides the user with symptoms (Riesenberg, nd). It also tells the user that when these symptoms  occur together, or to the degree specified, the condition is usually called X (Riesenberg, nd). This type of classification system is important, in fact, one could argue that it is  essential for both treatment and research (Riesenberg, nd). Lacking any kind of classification reference for disorders or illnesses, the psychologist or psychiatrist would be working from a blank page beginning  at step one with each and every patient (Riesenberg, nd). The classification system provides a common language within the profession, a critical resource for collaboration, study, diagnosis, research and